Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Agency Seeks to Lift Ban on Lion Hunting

As many as 210 mountain lions could be killed statewide if the California Fish and Game Department can convince the Fish and Game Commission to authorize an official lion-hunting season, ending a 15-year ban on hunting the big cats.

The proposal has drawn the ire of environmentalists throughout California. The hunting season was proposed last Tuesday, and by Wednesday a coalition of wildlife preservation groups had already threatened a full-scale attack against the controversial proposal.

“There are just too many unanswered questions about the mountain lion to open up a trophy-hunting season,” said Sharon Negri, director of the Mountain Lion Preservation Foundation.

Not only does the coalition plan testimonials from movie stars on the animals’ behalf, meetings with editorial boards and public service announcements, but Wednesday a state assemblyman introduced legislation to reinstate the ban on hunting the cougars imposed by the Legislature in 1972.

Officials behind the proposal insisted that it was not prompted by last year’s mauling of two Orange County children--Laura Michele Small, 5, of El Toro, and Justin Mellon, 6, of Huntington Beach. The children were hiking in Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park with their parents--Small in March and Mellon in October--when they were attacked.

The lion attacks focused increased attention on the animals and their habitats and caused the park to be closed to the public temporarily on both occasions.

All of Orange County would fall within the department’s proposed southern hunting zone, stretching from Los Angeles south to the Mexican border. Up to 20 cats could be killed in the area, which is believed to be home to at least 400 of them.